Book cover

“Cladocerans in the Drainage Area of  Yangtze River ”, coauthored by XIANG Xianfen, YU Gongliang and CHEN Shouzhong, was recently published by China Science and Technology Press. This book included a total of 260, 000 words and 188 color micrographs. IHB Prof. CAO Wenxuan (CAS academician) recommended this book to the publishing aid plan sponsored by the Three Gorges Corporation for science and technology. After strict review and selection by the review committee, this book received financial aid. This publishing aid plan was established by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and China Three Gorges Corporation, aiming to financially support the publishing of scientific and technical works in the fields of natural science and technology during 2012-2016. 

Cladocerans (Arthropoda: Crustacean: Branchiopod) are an important member in freshwater system. After the publishing of “Chinese fauna: Freshwater Cladocera” in 1979, the taxonomic research of Cladocera was relatively rare. Almost three decades have past, China’s taxonomic study, including the classified description and taxonomic system, has lagged far behind the world standard. Now that the water environmental problem becomes increasingly serious, the taxonomic revision of Cladocera turned to be in urgent need. 

In this study, specimen from the main stream, 14 tributaries, 11 lakes and many small water bodies in the drainage area of the Yangtze River were sampled to conduct studies on taxonomy and species diversity of cladocera. Taxonomic sorting keys were built at order, family, genus and subgenus level, respectively. The species composition, biodiversity, geographical and ecological distributions were compared among the main stream of the Yangtze River, tributaries, lakes and the whole drainage area. A total of 134 species or subspecies of cladocera (including 3 orders, 8 families, 52 genera) were found in the drainage area of the Yangtze River, accounting for 74% of the total number in China.  

There were also showed about 188 micrographs of 71 species or subspecies belonging to 37 genera, including female and male, postabdomen, head pore, ephippium etc. The morphological characters of head pores in Chydoridae were observed and described, and micrographs of head pores were also showed in this book. The taxonomic statues of one family (Ilyocryptidae) and some genera (Bosmina, Ephemeroporus, Pleuroxus, Kurzia, Notoalona, Karualona and Nicsmirnovius) were modified and justified. Complementary description was given to some genera and species.